Re: How much HP for a 12' disk?

i have the #37 in a 12ft and I pull it with a jd 5400 2wd its 68 hp I can pull it with a 14 ft packer behind it. It does a crappy job in a hay field. I grow teff hay and plant every year. the disk and packer dont leave a smooth field. If you do use this set up you will need to use another implement to level ground or you will have a mess of a hayfield. just my .02

i have the #37 in a 12ft and I pull it with a jd 5400 2wd its 68 hp I can pull it with a 14 ft packer behind it. It does a crappy job in a hay field. I grow teff hay and plant every year. the disk and packer dont leave a smooth field. If you do use this set up you will need to use another implement to level ground or you will have a mess of a hayfield. just my .02

That is good info to know. It sounds as if the 37 may not be a good disc for our use if this is the case. Unless it is common, i don't think we want to have to use a separate implement to smooth after discing. Again, I have no experience using large disks outside of a 3p style on a garden. Is there any specific models/type of disc you could suggest that would leave a smoother surface appropriate for planting hay?

Re: How much HP for a 12' disk?

TnWV,

I doubt that you find another brand or style disk that will do a marked difference by itself, but attaching a spike tooth or chain link fence like drag harrow behind the disk harrow will greatly smooth out the soil. You are not talking thousand or even hundreds of acres, disk a second time if needed, using the drag/chain link only on the second disking.

Re: How much HP for a 12' disk?

Originally Posted by wolftree

TnWV,

I doubt that you find another brand or style disk that will do a marked difference by itself, but attaching a spike tooth or chain link fence like drag harrow behind the disk harrow will greatly smooth out the soil. You are not talking thousand or even hundreds of acres, disk a second time if needed, using the drag/chain link only on the second disking.

I say go for the IH 37 disks.

Those discs in the pics are light duty discs, anyway. Probably around 40lbs/disc. It'll take 4-6 passes through the field to get the sod clumps broken down unless you're working pretty dry ground to begin with.

You'd want to get the field worked up a few times before using a drag. If it's too clumpy the drag will just ball up and drop wads here and there.

Either of your tractor's shouldn't have a problem with those discs.... unless the field is too wet!

Note the open frame with plated bottoms. You can add weight there and get the blades to cut better if needed.

Good luck.

AKfish

"Most people want to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it."

I doubt that you find another brand or style disk that will do a marked difference by itself, but attaching a spike tooth or chain link fence like drag harrow behind the disk harrow will greatly smooth out the soil. You are not talking thousand or even hundreds of acres, disk a second time if needed, using the drag/chain link only on the second disking.

I say go for the IH 37 disks.

I have 2 8'-10' chain harrows that i used to smooth my yard before seeding that could easily be attached to the disc or pulled separately after discing. I figured we would have to disc multiple times, probably different directions, especially on the ground that will be plowed.

If I could find a disc in as good of shape as yours for $600, I would buy it without question. We will have atleast that much in one of the ones we looked at after putting alot of work into it. There just isn't lot of good used equipment around here, at least not that is advertised. It seems that I have to go west of Cincinnati, or north of Columbus to find any kind of a deal on anything. I've been looking for a good 5' tiller(to run on my MF150) and a big heavy box blade for my Zetor for over a year and nothing has come up that was worth the asking price. I have finally decided to just buy a new king kutter tiller, and will continue the box blade search.

Re: How much HP for a 12' disk?

I use the "frost seeding" method for my Rye grass. I prep the field in Oct. so the freeze/thaw cycles mellow the dirt back out. But then my field is pretty flat, but enough grade to drain well, so no erosion worries. You may want to check it out, and see if it will work for you. Too late for this year, but maybe next..?? I've had great results so far.
Going with some Tuukka Timothy this spring, but using a slit seeder for that, as it's a warm weather grass. Hopefully it won't tear things up too bad...

I use the "frost seeding" method for my Rye grass. I prep the field in Oct. so the freeze/thaw cycles mellow the dirt back out. But then my field is pretty flat, but enough grade to drain well, so no erosion worries. You may want to check it out, and see if it will work for you. Too late for this year, but maybe next..?? I've had great results so far.
Going with some Tuukka Timothy this spring, but using a slit seeder for that, as it's a warm weather grass. Hopefully it won't tear things up too bad...

I will look into that, I believe the idea was to disc and reseed after second cut anyway. I've cut, ted, racked, and bailed the last few years, but I've never been involved with the plow, disk, seed process, so I'm lost on what my in-laws are trying to do and trying to learn as much as I can. I didn't really realize it was, a good idea to disc without plowing. Figured it would tear up the field to the point of needing completely redone. The fields look nice and produce pretty well as is, but again I'm not an expert on this stuff.